KTM UK
Tom Sagar wins ’08 Welsh Two-Day Enduro

Despite a torrid mixture of bad weather and bad luck Insight Renewables D3-Racing KTM rider Tom Sagar has topped the ’08 running of the prestigious Welsh Two-Day Enduro, staged in Llandrindod Wells, Mid Wales.
Crashing on the opening special test on day one and then getting rope caught around his rear wheel on the last special test on day two, Tom’s chances of winning the event seemed slim as he neared the end of the hugely popular enduro. But at the end of the very last time control on day two, Tom, despite being penalised for arriving late, completed the forest check in less time than his rivals and in doing so claimed his first ever Welsh Two-Day victory.
 
With rain falling almost constantly during the two days the ’08 edition of ‘The Welsh’ proved to be extremely challenging and simply too tough for many of the large Clubman class entrants. For Tom day one started badly as a fall on the opening special tests resulted in him being unable to restart his bike, which meant he dropped around 45 seconds to his closest rivals. Although going on to ride well during the day’s difficult time controls he then struggled to perform at his best during the day’s second and last special test.
 
Day two proved to be a much better day for the reigning British Enduro Champion as he topped the first special test by five seconds, as the changes he’d made to the set-up of his bike before the start of the day proving to be a success. But it was a case of two steps forward followed by one step backwards as on the day’s second special test Tom got rope caught around his rear wheel. Losing more precious time Tom thought his chances of winning the event were well and truly over but his spirited ride through the event’s final time control resulted in the KTM rider claiming an extremely pleasing, if not somewhat unexpected, victory.
 
Tom will now spend the next three weeks preparing himself for the British round of the World Enduro Championship – the GP of Wales, which takes place in Llanidloes on July 19/20.
 
Tom Sagar: “After everything that happened to me during the race it’s a bit strange to have won. The rain made sure the event was a proper enduro and not just a trail ride as it often is. I had some really bad luck on the special tests, but I had good luck on the tight checks, which I guess was more important.
The first day was a bit of a disaster really. I crashed heavily on the first test, stalled my bike, and couldn’t get it going. I must have lost about 45 seconds to the fastest rider. On the second test I really struggled, which summed up a bad day really.
 
I made some changes to my bike for day two, which made a huge difference. I won the first test by five seconds and felt much better on my bike. The first tight time check was terrible, there were riders and ruts everywhere. I had a good run through it and was one of just two riders to drop three minutes, two to count.
 
Just when I though things were going better for me I got rope caught around my rear wheel on the day’s second test and lost about one-minute. I was just focused on getting to the finish at that stage – I didn’t think I had any chance of winning.
 
The last time control was tight, which was great for me. I lost time, but less than the other riders, so I managed to win the event. It was tough, but I really enjoyed the event.”



INSIGHT RENEWABLES D3-RACING KTM

The biggest Enduro in the UK, the Welsh 2 Day, attracts around 500 starters and more again who would like to ride this popular event. Normally regarded as a fun event or holiday race, this year it was no holiday. Weather conditions more like October than June hit central Wales and two days of rain spoiled this great race making it one of the toughest in recent years.

Day 1 Thursday - Tom Sagar’s day started at 10.41 as the Expert riders are last away, ahead of him an 8 hour day but just two crucial tests to decide the results. The racing here is always very close and competitive and with only the 2 tests there is no room for error. Tom was one of the first Experts on the Rhayader MX circuit , the test is mainly on a grassy hillside and with all the rain was incredibly slippy. He was caught out by the conditions and crashed, stalling the bike which refused to start - he lost more than 40 seconds to the leaders who were all circulating within 10 seconds of each other. The second test would prove more rewarding but not good enough to make up for earlier problems. Day One’s result was a disaster for us, we needed to rethink and make changes for the second day.

Day 2 Friday - Tom was sure he had worked out how to master these conditions, a few small changes to the bike setup and Tom attacked the first grassy/muddy test at Abbey-Cwm-Hir with extreme confidence. He made light work of the conditions where others had struggled and looked to be finding grip were others had failed, in complete contrast to his previous days performance. He won the test comfortably and now was really starting to enjoy the conditions and riding the small Insight Renewables KTM 250F, which made light work of the first off-road check where all Experts riders lost time with Tom taking the least penalties. Onto the next and final test we were confident that we could be back in contention. Once again Tom was visibly quicker than other riders on the test when his bad luck struck again, he collected a rope lying in the track in his rear wheel which stopped the bike. It took over a minute to free the rope and again another terrible time. Tom left the test dejected and felt that his race was over. But there was still more than 4 hours of riding to be done in terrible conditions on a rut and bog infested course, anything could happen and first his rivals must finish and also finish without penalty, so Tom pushed on.

Some good luck finally came our way and Tom’s patience paid off despite being way down in the results due to bad luck on the tests - the final forest check would turn everything in his favour. Tom knew it would be tight on time and very difficult and he just rode and pushed the little KTM to the limit for the whole 40 minutes and although he dropped time was more than 2 minutes quicker than his nearest rival and therefore won the day and the event - never give up! Well done Tom on winning your first Welsh 2 Day.



Bradford Racing Sidecarcross Team
Welsh 2 Day Enduro 2008
The “Welsh 2 Day Enduro” was held recently on the 26th and 27th of June 2008, starting from Llandrindod Wells in Mid Wales. Two days of riding with each day consisting of 160 miles of off road going faced the riders. Being by far the biggest Enduro on the off road calendar, entries for this years “Welsh” totalled over 600 riders, with nearly as many being turned way.

The event catered for Solo’s and Sidecar’s and was one of the rounds of the 2008 British ACU Sidecar Enduro Championship. Over 30 outfits were entered, including two from the “Bradford Racing” Sidecar Motocross team. Llandrindod duo Simon Bradford and Neil James were in the Sidecar Championship class on their KTM VMC 540 and team mates Matt Taylor (from Llandrindod) and Nick Morgan (from nearby Builth Wells) were also riding on their KTM VMC 525. Both crews are used to fighting it out on motocross tracks throughout the UK, so this was a little different for them, although Bradford had won the sidecar class at the 2 Day last year with Simon Morgan in the chair.

At dawn break on the first morning of the event the weather was very wet and was set to make conditions very tough for all riders. The sidecar crews started first, with the first ones leaving the lakeside in Llandrindod at 08:01 am. The riders did some loops around Llanwrthwl, Beulah, Irfon forest and then to the famous “Water splashes” at Strata Florida, which was set to catch a few riders out for the sheer depth of the water. By mid afternoon, the first of the sidecar crews headed back into Llangurig, then into Rhayader, and then to the first of four special tests held at Cwmythig Hill motocross circuit. Neil and Mark Rowlands of nearby Llanidloes set the fastest time on their Husaberg powered outfit beating Bradford/James by 14 seconds, with Graham Jones and Simon Brown in third, a further 7 seconds down on Bradford /James.

The sidecars headed through some very tough going in forestry’s around Abbey-Cwm-Hir, which lead them to the second special test of the day at Home farm. Bradford /James set the fastest time around there in the championship sidecar class beating Jones/Brown by 7 seconds and the Rowlands Brothers by 8 seconds, thus cutting their lead to 6 seconds. All three of these sidecar crews stayed clean on time and the Rowlands Brothers were to lead over night from Bradford/James and Jones/Brown. In the sidecar Clubman class Bradford Racing duo Taylor/Morgan were setting good test times but had lost time on the going, therefore dropping them down the field.

The weather for day 2 was a similar story, being very windy with heavy showers. The course was also going to be very tricky in places due to the 600 plus bikes that had ridden it on day 1 - however the course was to be ridden in reverse for the second day making it very interesting indeed! On the first test of the morning Bradford/James set the fastest time some 8 seconds faster than the Rowlands Brothers and 7 seconds faster than Jones/Brown, therefore taking the overall lead in the sidecar class.

   Disaster then struck the crew of Bradford/ James when the exhaust snapped clean through on their KTM outfit and to make it worse it had happened in the very tight Abbey check which had caught so many riders out on day 1. They had no choice but to carry on and hope it would hold together until the check at “Flying Bank”. Luckily it did and there was enough time on the next check on the road to Cwmythig Hill, for Neil to attempt to resolve the problem with a couple of jubilee clips and a bean can, which they hoped would last till the end of the event!
      
On the final test of the event at the motocross track at Cwmythig Hill, Bradford/James again set the fastest time giving them a comfortable cushion at the top of the sidecar class. Taylor/Morgan were again setting fast test times in the Sidecar Clubman class and were looking good for a top finish. As the day wore on the riders headed up to Llangurig, Strata Florida and into the Irfon Forest which was a very “tight” check for everyone. Bradford/James were the only sidecar outfit to go clean in this check, all they had to do now was get back to Llandrindod via some road sections and Bwlchciliau Forest.
        
Bradford/James went on to take the win, over 2 minutes and 32 seconds ahead of second place crew Jones/Brown, with David Williams and Graham Mcphee in third place. Bradford Racing’s other crew Taylor/Morgan went on to take a well-deserved runner up position in the Clubman Class, an excellent result as this was their first “Welsh 2 Day”.
  
On behalf of Bradford racing and I am sure all of the riders, many thanks to the organisers for an excellent run and challenging event. Thank you also to Bradford Racing sponsors: P J Martin Ground works, Off Road Only, Ian Jones Tyres, Arrow Plant and Tool Hire, Foto-x, Lazer Helmets, Michelin and Moterex Oils. Finally, congratulations to Tom Sagar for winning the huge Solo class.

FRONT ROW GB
A DISAPPOINTING WELSH TWO DAY ENDURO

Front Row GB rider, Stan Watt, had an mini-adventure start to the Welsh Two Day Enduro as a delayed flight from Northern Ireland meant the organisers were waiting patiently for him to be the last person to arrive, sign-on and scrutineer his machine at 8pm on the Wednesday night prior to the Thursday morning start, even though the administration was due to close at 6pm.

Ivan Finkelstein was assisting Stan for the two day enduro and returned from a nice holiday in California to have Stan on the phone immediately on arrival in Heathrow laying out what needed to be done. Ivan spent two days chasing suspension, parts and ultimately a motorcycle, which failed to materialise from the USA on the Tuesday morning.

Luckily, Derrick Edmondson from Edmondson Racing stepped in with a 2008 KTM250 EXC on his shop floor that had just been traded in but had yet to have any preparation or inspection, but was the only option at this late stage.

Ivan got on the road with the motor shuttle trailer behind his ‘pimp-my-ride’ VW transporter and made his way to Cannock in Staffordshire to make some provisions to use Derrick’s KTM250 EXC.

Talon wheels in place and everything as ready as could be, Ivan pushed on to Llandrindod Wells and after some last minute bits and bobs put the bike through the technical checks and into parc ferme. A quick run on the road and Ivan had his suspicions the bike may not be running correctly but it was too late and the first day would have to start with the bike as it was.

Day 1
With Stan’s late arrival, the early morning of day 1 was spent walking the cross country test and motocross test with Bradley King and Ivan. Time was limited so the primary aim was to cover the important areas of the test and the standard open sections would be trial and error during the timed test stages.

Stan was #650 of 666 riders and to set off at 1056 in the morning and if on time, would finish the first day at 1910 in the evening. Stan had yet to see the bike and once cleared to enter parc ferme applied some personal touches before pushing the KTM250 to the start line.

As 1056 rolled over on the clock, the bike fired into life with the first kick, instilling some mechanical confidence. Stan’s start group consisted of 3 further riders from Holland on a variety of machines to include a Husqvarna 250, Honda CR250 and a Yamaha WR250. From the off, Stan was determined to take control of his group in a bid not to get held up on the timed tests and tight checks. This was not to be a problem, as the first off-road stage would see the riders from Holland fall back and not be encountered for the rest of the day.

The first section was on tarmac road, and within 5 minutes of starting, two things became very apparent. Firstly, the KTM250 appeared to not be running as expected and secondly, the expected rain had arrived with the heavens opening with full force.

The Welsh Two Day is renowned for having longer road sections in comparison to say the British Championship rounds and generally the ‘checks’ are fairly loose on times apart from maybe one or two. In total there would be 11 checks totalling a minimum of 8 hours and 14 minutes if an expert/championship rider was to stay on time.

Word had spread the first check with a mixture of tarmac and off-road sections would be fairly easy but the second stage would be extremely tight. This was definitely the case, with the majority of riders waiting for 20-30 minutes after the first check and having to push hard to make the second check. It would be only the few that would stay on time and Stan dropped 3 minutes on the tight second stage, although only being passed by Craig Bounds, when Stan hit a hidden tree stump in a deep water-logged bog section.

As soon as the off-road stages began, it was apparent Stan’s 250KTM was having power difficulties and wasn’t able to hook top gear when required and struggled finding power on the drive. This would continue throughout the day and would be joined by a substantial oil leak after cracking a clutch casing towards mid-stage.

The torrential rain, which never stopped all day, made for typical Welsh going and a large number of riders and bikes would not finish and if they did would not start day 2. Stan found the terrain great fun especially the two tests and tight checks, which is fantastic practice for the forthcoming World Championship and British Championship rounds, both to be held in Wales.

Unfortunately, Stan dropped further time in the long tight stage of the day with a total tally of 9 minutes to count overall on Day 1. The first test started well with Stan pulling away from the chasing Craig Bounds on his 250 Sherco. A fast crash towards the end of test not only lost Stan time but twisted his forks in the yokes and allowed Craig to easily pass and make further time. Some quick mechanical changes was carried out by Ivan at the end of the test and Stan was back on his way with a somewhat straighter bike.

The second test was typical off-camber wet grass that already had seen 600+ riders. Again Stan started well and maintained a good, deliberate pace throughout putting together a fast test time for the stage.

A run to the finish line saw Stan pass a substantial number of riders either stuck in the increasing ruts and bogs, broken down or simply given up due to the difficult terrain and weather conditions.

On the last road section a number of bikes ran out of fuel stranding further riders, yet Stan, with an engine that was deteriorating managed to finish day 1 and carry out any required technical changes although the engine would be a concern to run for a further hard day.

DAY 2
The decision was made early on day 2 that it was unlikely the KTM250 was going make the course. The oil leak could not be stopped with metal sealant and the engine appeared to be even worse. Although Derrick from Edmondson Racing made the assurance his thoughts were the bike could be ridden, Stan made the decision it was more sensible not to start another wet day than to risk wrecking an engine and being stranded out on course.

So unfortunately, Stan was forced to retire making the Welsh Two Day Enduro the first event Stan has not completed in 5 years.